Fernando Alonso has stated that Aston Martin has “a plan” and is “more confident than in previous months” despite enduring a “painful” Formula 1 Spanish Grand Prix.
Aston Martin’s regression since the mid-point last term has continued into 2024 as the team has dropped back towards the midfield rather than catching those ahead.
The Silverstone-based squad introduced updates at Imola that have not delivered the anticipated progress and Alonso has scored points once in the past four rounds.
Alonso experienced a difficult outing on home soil last weekend as he succumbed to a Q2 exit along with team-mate Lance Stroll and then came home a distant 12th.
But while the Spaniard has hinted Aston Martin doesn’t have a grasp on the current AMR24, he has issued that he harbours optimism it will rebound from this setback.
“We’ve been testing a few different set-ups, these long corners these cars, they all behave differently,” Alonso said.
“I think our car was behaving very differently in Bahrain.
“After the first packages we introduced we changed a little bit the characteristics of the car so we can mitigate a little bit the set-ups and we are understanding more.
“But when you understand the package, the next one is coming and it resets everything.
“As I said now, I think we have a plan, let’s see if it contributes to a better result, but we are more confident than we have been in the previous months.”
Alonso expressed that he is “relaxed” about Aston Martin’s dwindling competitiveness, though, citing how the British marque is still developing as a collective group.
“I think it’s more understanding about the car, we cannot forget last year was the first car that this new technical team was designing,” he highlighted.
“We’ve been trying to add performance to the car, sometimes we didn’t add much and made the car a bit more tricky and difficult to drive.
“They’ve been working for one year and a half together, and everything is growing still at the top level, and it’s a strong position into the future.
“So I’m very relaxed, but the present is what matters in racing and today the present is Barcelona and it’s obviously painful but I’m relaxed about the performance.”
Meanwhile, Aston Martin boss Mike Krack explained how the ongoing tripleheader is complicating the side’s attempts to cure its limitations in long, winding corners.
“That is one of the issues that you have. You have now five races in six weeks,” Krack said
“We have had quite a lot of understanding after Monaco, Imola, and Canada as well, where we scored 14 points by the way with the same car, but it’s about fixing them.
“You have no time. That’s the main problem at the moment.
“So we have to hang on like this, get the best out of the car each weekend and bring these parts as quick as possible.”
